Motherly instincts
by Sincerely The Sign Painter
Summary: Never underestimate a mother's instincts.


It was a dark room. The lights were out and there was smoke everywhere. On the ground, there was a transmutation circle. In the middle of that circle, there was a horrible thing all mutated and deformed. It laid dead in a pool of its own blood with one arm reached out towards a little boy who was on the side of the circle. The little boy sat sobbing in a pool of his own blood as well. Where one of his legs was supposed to be, there was a huge gaping wound. Although the boy was in lots of pain, it didn't matter right now.

"No, dammit. You won't take him too. Give him back! He's my brother!" the little boy on the ground cried out. He dragged himself over to a fallen suit of armor and started drawing a symbol with his blood.

"Take my leg. Take my arm! Take my heart, ANYTHING, YOU CAN HAVE IT! Just give him back! He's my little brother, he's all I have left!" the boy cried, clapping his hands. The room filled with a flash of white…

.

Trisha woke up with a gasp. She sat up and put her hand over her quickly beating heart.

"Trisha?" Hohenheim asked worriedly. "Are you alright?" Trisha got her breath back and gave him a reassuring smile.

"I'm alright," she said softly, "just a nightmare."

"Another one?" Hohenheim frowned. "You seem to be having a lot of them recently."

"Don't worry. It's probably nothing," Trisha answered, forcing herself to smile.

She knew he didn't believe her, but she couldn't tell him the truth. Ever since he told her he was going to leave for a while, she'd been having strange nightmares. Some had to do with the army and some had to do with strange monsters that had names of the deadly sins, but all had her children in them. Along with these dreams came the horrible sense of dread that if Hohenheim left, the family would fall apart. But of course that was just silly. Her mind was trying to make up excuses on why he shouldn't leave. He didn't want to leave her, so telling him would just make it so much harder. They both knew he had to go.

"Are you sure?" Hohenheim pressed unconvinced.

"I just need some fresh air, that's all," she waved it off, getting out of bed.

.

Trisha walked down the hall and peaked into her sons' room. Both boys were fast asleep. She sighed in relief. For a second she was afraid she'd come in to find Al missing and Ed legless. Of course that was ridiculous. Just because she saw it in a dream that didn't mean that it was real.

_"I should tell someone about these dreams,"_ she mused to herself as she headed outside. But who would she tell? She didn't want to worry anyone. After all, they were just dreams, they were not real.

"Why do they feel so real?" she asked the night sky. "The boys will be alright, right?"

"Why wouldn't they be?" a voice questioned from behind her. Trisha spun around to see Hohenheim at the doorway.

"Oh, it's nothing. I was just thinking about my dream," she said offhandedly.

"What was it about?"

"Just the boys getting themselves into trouble," she sighed.

"I see," Hohenheim frowned.

They stood there quietly as the sun started coming up over the horizon. After a while, Hohenheim sighed.

"I should be going now," he decided reluctantly.

"Yeah," Trisha agreed, trying to keep the sorrow out of her voice. They went back inside and Trisha helped him pack up some stuff. Then she helped him put on his coat.

"Don't tell the children," Hohenheim warned her. "I don't want them to know about me."

"Right," Trisha said frowning. "Are you sure you don't want me to wake them up?" The horrible sense of dread started growing steadily and she was finding it hard to breath. Hohenheim looked away and walked to the door.

"I can't bear to see their faces," he told her grimly. Trisha felt her chest tighten. She wanted so badly to reach forward and stop him. To tell him of her dreams and fears for the boys. But instead, she followed him to the door and forced a smile on her face.

"Silly man," she said, "it's ok to cry." Now, they were in front of the door and the images from her nightmares started going through her head. Her house burning down, Al's body being replaced by steel, Ed joining the army and that terrifying gate in the white abyss.

_'They're just excuses,'_ she thought forcefully to herself. _"That would never happen. I would never let any of it happen! We will wait here for him to come back. I'm just worrying, that's all."_ But the dread continued to grow. Even so, she calmly handed Hohenheim his bag. He looked at her for a second then the movement from behind her caught his attention and he gave a small gasp. Trisha turned around to find her two sons standing in the hall.

"Oh, you two boys are up early!" she sang, trying to sound cheerful and happy. "What are you doing out of bed?" She walked away from Hohenheim and towards her children.

"Al said he needed to go potty," Ed yawned tiredly.

"And of course his big brother took care of him," she said fondly, rubbing Ed's head. "Thanks a lot, little man." Now she felt a little better. Her family was all together in one place for what she felt like the last time. Trying to shake that thought away, she noticed her sons were staring over her shoulder. She turned to find them looking at their father curiously. Hohenheim stared fearfully at them. Finally, he forced himself to look away and headed to the door. Before he left, he shot one more look at her and the children then disappeared outside. As the door closed, an overwhelming fear overcame her. She took a few steps towards the door her hand reached for. The terrifying thought of never seeing him again took over her senses. Then it was gone and she was left feeling tired and shaken. She turned around to the boys and forced another smile.

"Let's go back to sleep," she said. "It's still really early." Her boys nodded and they headed off to bed.

Over time, Trisha would forget about her fears and shake them off as something her mind came up with. Even so, as she walked away from that door that day, a few tears escaped her eyes and slid silently, falling onto the floor.

.

Hohenheim stopped and turned to look at the house. He was unaware that this was going to be the last time he saw that building. It was going to be the last time he saw Trisha. The next time he was going to see Al, his soul would be in a suit of armor. The next time he was going to see Ed, he'd be in the army and look upon Hohenheim with hatred in his eyes. The evil in the country that he was trying to protect his family from would drag his boys into its darkest secrets. But right now, he knew none of this. None of Trisha's worries or nightmares nor of what could have been if he stayed. Hohenheim sighed and then turned away from his house and walked down the path towards the wilderness.

.

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